


how to be a heartbreaker

by honeyjinnie (jenovibez)



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Disenchantment, Might come back to this someday, Multi, basically norenmin, repost
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-19
Updated: 2020-05-19
Packaged: 2021-03-02 19:54:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,913
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24262408
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jenovibez/pseuds/honeyjinnie
Summary: a prince, a fae and a demon walk into a bar.
Relationships: Huang Ren Jun/Lee Jeno, Huang Ren Jun/Lee Jeno/Na Jaemin, Huang Ren Jun/Na Jaemin, Lee Jeno/Na Jaemin
Kudos: 8





	how to be a heartbreaker

see, jaemin wasn't exactly having an amazing time. 

his dad, king yuta, told him that he had finally decided to marry him off to another kingdom in hopes of 'strengthening their military alliance' and it's just the one thing that makes his day worse than it already had been—he'd lost his money he won at the local bar during a game of poker (due to a fight breaking out between him and his opponent before he got picked up by doyoung, royal consort, but nobody needs to know that). he gazes out of his window, watching the skyline of their city and getting lost in his own thoughts for a while. 

his brain whirrs at speed of light pretty much, and when he finally comes out of his daze, he sees his reflection in the window in the golden, afternoon sun (with he'd typically find enjoyable, but nothing is going to cheer him up today). he sees his face, sharp cheekbones highlighted by the bits of glitter still present on his cheeks from a party the night before. a small smile appears on his lips when he remembers, but it quickly disappears when his servant (but someone he wishes he could call a friend), hendery, snaps him out of his thoughts. 

"lost in your thoughts, huh? your majesty?"

he says, only slightly playful undertone as he nervously walks up to renjun from behind, taking a comb and gently brushing through the younger boy's hair. jaemin smiles tightly as he watches sicheng in the window, wishing that he could just get away from his life in his kingdom in westerland (and yes, there's a westland slightly more east of the coast to them, on the other side of the enchanted forest). he spots the statue of his father in the courtyard looking disapprovingly at him and he scoffs. 

"quit judging me dad."

he says, and hendery laughs a little before silencing himself. he leads jaemin over to his dressing table, sitting him down on the bench. jaemin looks at himself in the mirror—he's shirtless (after his father had told him to change into something more princely and he'd done it in the throne room instead), only wearing some ill fitting black pants, but they're his comfiest ones so he doesn't really mind. his brownish-blonde hair is messy, as always, and he's got dirt on his face. he looks more like a commoner than part of the royal family, in fact. 

"i didn't think i'd be getting married for a stupid alliance or something, i was thinking more... true love or something. kinda feel like i've wasted my life." 

hendery smiles at his foul expression and bold words, simply deciding to pull out what little actual makeup they have, as opposed to what jaemin's father would've wanted him to use. jaemin visibly relaxes a little, and hendery suddenly realises that he knew about the use of the leeches. 

"don't worry, there's lots of reasons to get married, jaemin. for example, i got married for a horse."

he replies, and jaemin pretty much ignores him (not to be rude, but he's deep in his own thoughts). as he watches hendery styles his hair and make his face look slightly less homeless, he begins to see that yeah, he does look quite a lot like his father. but unfortunately, he doesn't like that one bit. 

"alright, come on, we need to hurry, the prince will be here any minute to marry you! oh, and if he's lucky, meet you!" 

——

down in the courtyard however, king yuta and his wife (and jaemin's step mom), momo, along with doyoung and their son, felix, the magician (who likes to call himself a wizard) kun, and their two bravest members of the royal guard are stood on the castle steps. 

"how do i look? i had the dogs lick me clean three times today." 

yuta says, and momo snorts at his statement, while her husband gives her an odd side eye. he lets it slide though, as he hears fanfare and the wheels of a carriage outside of the walls. the drawbridge is lowered, and they watch as the royal family from coxglade thunder into the courtyard with their... slightly exaggeratedly long carriage. the door of the carriage crashes to the floor when the herald of westerland opens it for the family inside, and he steps aside for them. 

a man and a woman emerge from inside one at a time, dressed in lavish clothes (quite different to that of yuta and momo's) and bearing intricate hair styles and headpieces. the man has a cloak around himself, and when he separates it, yuta has to bite back a laugh when he sees the obnoxious pair of heels the man is wearing. the herald takes a deep breath, and momo sees felix cover his eyes out the her peripheral vision. 

"announcing the king and queen of shawol, lazarus the first, and... charlie." 

yuta suddenly snaps out of his daze and steps forwards, clapping his hands and smiling at his guests. momo follows suite, steppin forwards to follow her husband. 

"welcome your highnesses! or my... king and queen in laws! or... should i just call you brother and sister?" 

he says cheerfully (for the most part), and watches as the couple in front of him glance to the side to see him and momo staring at them, waiting for an answer. 

"we are brother and sister. what of it?" 

yuta exchanges a glance with momo, but before they can say anything more, the herald raises his voice again as another figure appears in the carriage doorway. 

"and their son-slash-nephew, hero of the battle against that chicken that flew into the kings face that one time, groom to be, prince skeazeburt of coxglade!"

a prince steps out of the carriage (surprisingly good looking for his parentage) and the courtyard gasps. yuta could swear someone was shining a spotlight on him—momo's eyes widen, and she settles down a little after muttering an 'ooh la la'. yuta gives her a dirty glance, shaking his head with a 'you never do that for me'. 

——

jaemin sits perched on his windowsill, all dolled up for the frankly, strange and pointless wedding. he sighs, curling up and hugging his knees in his attempt to stay still in his restless state, and he huffs upon realising that no, he can't find a way to stay still. 

"ugh, i hate this feeling!"

he exclaims, slightly louder than he wanted. hendery pokes his head around the corner with furrowed eyebrows before replying. 

"sobriety? or not being on drugs?"

he asks, and jaemin shakes his head while suppressing the urge to laugh, because yes, while he loves being drunk, he hates what he's feeling now. 

"no, i just feel like my life is ending. i cant even smile."

he adds, before awkwardly feeling a pull at the corners of his mouth as he tries to smile, instead coming away with a boxy and ugly one when he sees it in the mirror. the smile drops as hendery comes into the room, smiling at him nervously. 

"don't worry, we'll get your cheeks lookin' nice an' rosy—remember, ladies rouge, princes leech."

he says before gently pressing a leech to each of jaemin's cheeks. the boy looks down at his lap sadly, and his voice quietens as he more or less thinks to himself. 

"have you ever wondered what it's like to be in a place that's like... truly happy?"

——

see, jeno hasn't exactly been having a great time either. 

he looks around him as he pries his eyes away from the boring assembly line in front of him, with endless boxes of candy and toys and magical items sliding past for him to put a bow on, and his friend smoochette at the end of the line. he suddenly has an idea which puts a smile on his face, and he sweeps a few boxes off the assembly line, lying himself down instead and putting a bow on his face. he's swept along until he reaches donghyuck, who obliges and kisses the living daylights out of him. 

they land on a heap of chocolates and boxes on the floor, with more boxes coming after them as jeno continues to kiss him. they're separated however, when their supervisor comes along to the crowd and pulls them apart with the comment 'no nose touching, remember?'. he stands them up again. 

"hyuckie, save your lips for the boxes please." 

he says, and he nods reluctantly, huffing as he stomps back over the the assembly line and the supervisor dismisses almost everyone in the crowd except jeno. 

"jeno, it's like you don't appreciate your assembly line job anymore!"

his supervisor comments, and jeno groans a little. he collects his thoughts together and thinks up an answer. 

"yeah, it's kinda not my dream job... i'm kinda... not always... happy? and feeling magical?"

he says nervously, and he hears a gasp from the glade around him. clearly the dismissed fae were listening in on their conversation from around corners or simply from where their job takes place. 

"but we're singing! and dancing!"

the twins, singo and danco say in unison, as they perform an unironic dance routine. 

"the idea that singing while you work making you happy isn't happiness, it's mental illness."

he says, and he hears a louder gasp from who he assumes is shocko. he clenches his fists and turns his back on the rest of the fae, clearly annoyed as his voice starts to raise in volume and pitch. sometime through his comment, the king of faewood and the father of donghyuck, had made his way over. 

"ugh, i'm just... in sick of being happy all the time!"

he says as he kicks one of the many boxes that are now strewn across the floor, creating a muddy puddle. he turns for a second, with a more hopeful expression, and his eyes glitter a little.

"i just wish i could go somewhere where... where people are sad—no, miserable!"

he watches as the crowd that's gathered around him by the end of his statement get more and more outraged and riled up, and he crosses his arms, looking back at donghyuck and blowing one last kiss before leaping backwards over a barricade. 

——

back at the castle however, jaemin wasn't having a much better time. 

he walks into the solemn dining hall, where a table is laden with gifts. but they're not for him, they're for his father—the dowry for the wedding. he passes a small black box with a silver ribbon on the table, and gives it a side eye, but passes by eventually. however, a second later he gets a chill up his spine and looks back, but it's gone. he turns with furrowed eyebrows and looks down at his shoes to check he's got the right one on the right foot (he still hasn't got the hang of these wedding shoes) but the gift is right by his feet. 

he bends down and picks it up, inspecting it ruthlessly and staring at it with one eye closed, when he hears a gruff voice from seemingly inside his head say 'open the gates of— i mean the ribbon'. he does so, pulling the silver ribbon swiftly and removing the top from the gift box. instantly, all the candles in the dining hall (including the ones on the ceiling) are snuffed and a chill descends on the room. he looks around, half suspicious and half nervous, before a shadow appears on the wall with a scary figure displayed, projected by a light from inside the box. 

"prince jaemin, you are hereby cursed! by the deepest depths of the underworld too!"

but this time the voice isn't all that scary, as it has a voice crack at the end and jaemin has to fight the urge to laugh. 

"what kind of demon has a voice that cracks like a teenagers when it shouts?"

he comments, and receives a cold breeze in response. the light from inside the box disappears, and it reveals a tiny boy, about the size of a fairy, and jaemin laughs that he was nervous in the first place when he hears the demon mutter 'hey, you look too though'. but he then realises what's going on and proceeds to shut the box immediately. when the demon puts up a bit of a fight, he begins to shout. 

"guards! guards! a creepy ghost guy is breaking in and complimenting me!"

the demon instead freaks out, shouting 'silencio!' before pinching jaemin's lips together. this time, he stays docile for a second. the demon decides this is his time to speak, and grows to a slightly larger size. 

"first up, not a ghost, i'm a demon! 100% real, from the depths of hell. ghosts are losers who got killed. number two, shut up and get used to me because you're stuck with me for for-e-ver! eter-!" 

the demon says, and he tries to finish, jaemin smacks him away, proceeding to launch him at the nearest wall. he watches silently as he demon slowly falls down it, as if he were sticky. when he lands in a heap at the bottom, he finally gets to finish. 

"-nity."

"i'm already cursed enough in life! i don't need a demon cursing me!" 

jaemin shouts as he swings a sword at the demon, who hops gracefully in between each blow until he's struck on the head. he simply falls to the table, commenting, 'that's not a princely sword'. jaemin picks him up by the neck and chucks him in a chest, and sits down on it, only to see the demon sat next to him. he sighs. 

"listen. you're stuck with me forever, renjun then fearful, so... just... take a deep breath and-"

jaemin kicks him into a wall, and he crashes to the floor at the top of a flight of stairs, proceeding to roll all the wall to the bottom by jaemin's predictions (he heard him groan the whole way down). so he turns, smug. 

"and that is how you return a gift to hell."

he says, but stops in his tracks when he sees the demon with a pair of crutches, in front of him. 

"if you don't calm the fuck down this is gonna be a really really long forever."

jaemin sighs. 

"ok. you win."

he says, and the demon smiles a little, but jaemin has to have the last laugh. he kicks the demons crutch out from under him. 

serves him right. 

——

_little does jaemin know, but there's actually people watching him and his situation. kinda weird, i know, but back in a world where we have fae and elves and demons and princes from brothers and sisters seemingly being totally fine, we'll roll with sorcerers for the time being._

_"so, the binding can begin."_

_one of the figures, a boy, says, and the other, a girl, nods in response. they look up and meet eyes, frowning a little._

_"this could take a while. renjun is good, but he'll take a while. so we'll need stools."_

_the boy says, and the girl nods again._

_"dark stools."_

——

jeno has no plan, he just runs and figures it'll get him somewhere. 

surprisingly that plan works. he makes it over the stacks of boxes, the huge chocolate bucket and all the way along the assembly line simply by running. but he stops in his tracks when he sees the legendary gate from faewood ahead of him. he sees and hears the crowd running behind him also gasp, so he makes his way to the single lever which presumably opens the gate. 

"no jeno! no fae has ever left faewood before!"

the king says, but he's proved wrong by someone who says, 'what about leavo?'. the king scowls, simply deciding to say 'speak no more of leavo! he left!' before turning his attention to mark, who's reached for the lever. the king grows more silent. 

"please, jeno! all will be forgiven if you obey the code." 

and jeno snaps. 

"screw the magic code and everything in it saying everything has to be happy and magical and perfect in life! i wanna taste something other than sweetness! i wanna cry salty tears for once, not ones that taste like vanilla ice cream and sugar! learn bitter truths! i wanna take a big... meaty bite outta life, and eat it without a sugary sauce on it! i wanna dip things in mustard, and eat anchovies, or olives and vinegar!"

he rants, and finally pulls on the lever. the door of the gate begins to open downwards, allowing a magical silver and purple glow to spill into the glade they're stood in. a tinkling sound also seems to appear with the light. 

"take one more step and you'll never return! not even returno returned!" 

the king says, and jeno shakes his head. 

"i'd rather live sad life than die a happy death right now, sorry." 

he says, before walking through the door into a dark forest. he hears the gate close behind him, and he looks around at the blackness around him. he focuses on how mouldy (and thankfully not sweet) it is, and he sighs not angrily for once. 

"wow. for once i feel utterly calm and at-"

he's cut off his when he's grabbed by the claws of a griffin and is flown off into the sky.


End file.
